William Saunders (December 7, 1822 – September 11, 1900) was a botanist, nurseryman, landscape gardener,

landscape designer Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and gard ...

, and

horticulturist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. As the chief experimental horticulturalist in the US, he was responsible for the introduction of many fruits and vegetables to American agriculture; with seven others he founded the

National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and ...

, a fraternal organization in the United States.

Grange

William Saunders was born in

Saint Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He served as the first Master (President) of the

National Grange The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and ...

. He was a founder of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. The other founders of the Grange were

Oliver Hudson Kelley Oliver Hudson Kelley (January 7, 1826 – January 20, 1913) was one of the key founders of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, a fraternal organization in the United States.William D. Barns, "Oliver Hudson Kelley and the ge ...

, Francis M. McDowell, John Trimble, Aaron B. Grosh,

John R. Thompson John Richardson Thompson (July 28, 1834 – February 12, 1894) was one of the eight founders of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, a fraternal organization in the United States. Biography Thompson was born on July 28, 1834, ...

, William M. Ireland and Caroline A. Hall.

Botany and design

He was the U.S. Department of Agriculture's first botanist and landscape designer. Saunders had been previously appointed to Superintendent of the Propagating Gardens in the Department of Agriculture, where he developed hundreds of plants, trees and shrubs that are grown throughout the United States. An ardent botanist, he designed the cemetery at Gettysburg, for which the

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the ...

was written by

President Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

as a dedication ode to those interred there. Saunders designed the park system in Washington, D.C., and oversaw the planting of 80,000 trees in the city.

Navel Orange

He was crucial in the introduction of the seedless

Navel Orange An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae (see list of plants known as orange); it primarily refers to ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related ''Citrus × ...

to California agriculture, by mailing three trees from Bahia, Brazil in the Department of Agriculture collection to farmer and friend

Eliza Tibbets Eliza Tibbets (born Eliza Maria Lovell; 1823–1898) was among early American settlers and founders of Riverside, California; she was an activist in Washington, D.C., for progressive social causes, including freedmen's rights and universal suffr ...

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. They were the basis of the state's successful 20th century citrus industry.(Harding, T. Swann, ''Two Blades of Grass'', 1947) One of two remaining original trees stands in the Mission Inn courtyard in downtown Riverside.

References

External links

"William Saunders"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', (September 14, 1900), p. 6.
''The Founders of the Grange''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, William American landscape and garden designers 1822 births 1900 deaths Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations Scottish botanists American landscape architects United States Department of Agriculture People from St Andrews National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry Oranges (fruit) 19th-century American botanists